Personalities

Confident

Confident people score themselves high on all five personality traits—extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. They are most likely to work with an investment advisor, most likely to have conducted a background check on their advisor, and most likely to have asked their advisor how they are compensated.

Diligent

People with a diligent personality type score themselves high on all traits, except extroversion. They’re very much like the confident personality type—conscientious, open to experience, agreeable, and emotionally stable—except introverted. Diligent types are likely to work with an investment advisor, but tend not to ask how their advisor is compensated. They are the most likely of all personalities to read their investment statements and to read them all the way through.

Impulsive

Impulsive personality types score themselves high on agreeableness, lower on emotional stability and conscientiousness, and above average on both extroversion and openness to experience. Only somewhat likely to work with an investment advisor, they are the most likely of any personality to have never asked their advisor about compensation or read their investment statements all the way through.

Reserved

Reserved personality people score themselves below average on agreeableness and emotional stability and lowest of all personalities on extroversion and openness to experience. But they make up for it with above average conscientiousness. No wonder they’re among the most likely to always read their investment statements. That said, they’re less likely to work with an investment advisor and least likely of all personalities to have conducted a background check.

Tumultuous

Tumultuous personality types score themselves above average on extroversion, but lowest of all on all other traits. They are the least likely to invest and, when they do, the least likely to work with an investment advisor, refer to a financial plan, or ask whether an investment they’ve been offered is suitable for them and their risk profile. They tend not to recognize any of the warning signs of investment fraud and are the most likely to report having invested in a fraud.